It was well past midnight when the call came through to 702 ABC's talkback line. "It's Pamela," the caller told studio producer Lotta Haegg. "I want to talk about cherries."

They have this personal relationship with the presenter – they're calling to speak to a person they see as a friend. But there are 300 calls coming through and you have to get rid of them quickly.

Before transferring the call to presenter Trevor Chappell and his guest, a gardening expert, Haegg asked to hear the story. As a little girl, Pamela hated visiting her grandparents. Her granddad, she said, was a piece of work. One night, he came home and demanded a cherry pie. Pamela's grandmother sent him to collect the cherries, while she made the base. He never came back.

"When I went outside to find him," Pamela said, "there was my grandfather, dead, up the cherry tree. Do you know what it's like getting a dead man out of a cherry tree? We had to build him a special coffin."

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Haegg put the call on hold, composed herself, then told Chappell to go to Pamela immediately. "I didn't even hesitate," she says. "Sometimes I just throw a curve ball to the presenter. It was the best story I'd heard all night."

Every evening, Haegg answers about 100 talkback calls, working mostly with 702's Nightlife presenter Tony Delroy. Daytime shows attract even more calls. Sydney's most popular breakfast presenters draw up to 800 a show.

Kyle and Jackie O's producers man the phones. Photo: Quentin Jones

Only a fraction go to air, so phone operators must be discerning. With calls coming through every minute, they sort the raconteurs from the ramblers, the characters from the lunatics and the stirrers from the crank callers. "Some of them make me fall off my chair laughing," Haegg says. "In this profession, it's healthy to have a really broad view of the world."

The more eccentric the caller, the better. The year John Laws retired from 2UE, his phone operator, Melanie Tait, now a producer with ABC Canberra, took a call from a woman who called herself Cinderella. Asked what she wanted to talk about, Cinderella said: "I'm looking for a prince."

"That was a call I wouldn't normally put through but it was a slow day and I thought it might be fun," Tait says. "[Laws] ended up putting on a waltz and dancing with her on air. It was a beautiful radio moment – the best call I ever put through."

Though the target audience differs between shows and stations, the criteria for good talkback is fairly consistent. "Crazy callers are a great thing, as long as they are not inappropriate," says a producer of 2Day FM's Kyle and Jackie O Show, Simon Greally. "What you look for are callers with passion and interesting stories. I like putting people to air with strong opinions and lots of energy."

As with many presenters, Kyle Sandilands relishes belligerent callers. Regular troublemaker Glenn, who Greally calls "our most hated listener", goes straight to air whenever he calls. "He's happy to ring and shut down anything Kyle says. We have so many regulars who agree with the guys but the best callers are the ones that go up against them."

Whether a show deals with news, pop culture, gardening, romance or sport, the phone operator strives for diversity. "We try to have as much variation as possible," Greally says. "We try to balance the guys and the girls, their stories and opinions. A lot of planning goes into the callers who go to air."

Nevertheless, live talkback is risky. Producers at 2Day FM know better than most that even a planned segment can be a disaster. The Kyle and Jackie O Show was briefly suspended after a 14-year-old girl, hooked to a lie detector, revealed she was raped at 12. Since then, the show has employed a full-time censor to push the "dump" button should things go wrong.

Controversial content still goes to air – recently a caller gave birth on air – but, Greally says, the censor provides a safety net. "It gives us a bit of freedom," he says. "We try to push the boundaries as much as we can, though not too much."

Some argue it is wiser to filter inappropriate calls before they reach the studio. An experienced phone operator can spot them immediately. Anyone who refuses to tell their story before going to air is out, as are those who seem vague on the details. Drunk and abusive callers stand no chance. "The minute someone swears at you, you hang up," Tait says.

The standard rejection line is "I'll call you back later if we have time" but when Tait recognised an aggressive regular's phone number she took a more creative approach. "Our phone number was quite similar to Lube Mobile and Silver Service Cabs," she says. "If I was too exhausted to fight, I'd answer, 'Hello, Silver Cabs'."

More difficult were the elderly listeners who called looking for company. She never put them to air but felt guilty turning them away. One woman rang every day, begging to speak to Laws. "There was no way I could put her on and it used to make me feel really bad," Tait says. "They have this personal relationship with the presenter – they're calling to speak to a person they see as a friend. But there are 300 calls coming through and you have to get rid of them quickly."

Then there were the listeners – hundreds of them – who called asking Laws to solve their problems. Tait kept them off air but took their details and, when she could, called the relevant government departments after the show. "That was one aspect I really enjoyed," she says. "I wasn't able to solve many problems but one or two I was able to help out. That's a great thing about these shows: the presenters can act as advocates for their listeners."

After midnight at 702, Haegg has more time to chat with those who cannot go to air. She hears traumatic stories of fractured families, violence, alcoholism, mental illness and child abuse. She never offers advice but she listens and, where necessary, passes on the number for Lifeline.

"Five minutes on air is not going to do these people justice but often they just want someone to talk to," she says. "Pretty much every night, someone will make me laugh and someone will make me cry. It's such a personal space. When you get to know the listeners, you really do become part of a family."

So you want to be on the radio?

DON'T

● Repeat what other people have already said● Abuse the switch operator● Get drunk● Swear● Hide what you plan to say on air● Call every day● Talk about your cat*● Ask for money● Ask what station you have called* Unless your cat has done something really interesting.